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It's all eyes to the sky this evening as the widely-anticipated Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. If successful, the mission would put a SES communications satellite into orbit, but the implications extend far beyond the expected increase in television and cable services in Asian markets.

The Falcon 9 is the baby of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, a private company founded by Elon Musk (the same Musk who founded Tesla). Today's mission, the first-ever commercial satellite launch, would position SpaceX as a serious player in a multibillion dollar industry dominated by just a handful of companies and NASA.

With more ambitious, private companies like SpaceX entering the space race, will established space transportation companies like Boeing and Lockheed be able to keep up?